Chard was a member of the former Dartmouth district school board and a planner with Parks Canada who first ran for provincial politics in the 1993 election.[1] He was defeated,[2] but ran again in the 1998 election, winning the Dartmouth South seat for the NDP.[3][4] In May 1998, he was elected Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly.[5] He was defeated by Progressive Conservative Tim Olive when he ran for re-election in the 1999 election.[6][7] Chard made another attempt at the NDP nomination in 2003, but lost a coin toss to Marilyn More after the vote count ended in a tie.[8] As of October 2019, Chard was still giving public lectures.[9]
^"Failure in election of Speaker leaves N.S. government shaky NDP Leader says vote of no confidence may be coming soon". The Globe and Mail. May 22, 1998.